Analyst insists multiplayer is going subscription

Trent Nouveau, 26th July 2010

American folk legend Woody Guthrie once famously said: "Some will rob you with a six gun and [others] with a fountain pen."

Of course, Guthrie was singing about different times, but it seems as if irresponsible corporate behavior has changed little since the years of the Great Depression.

Indeed, foreclosures abound, soup kitchens are crowded with hungry people and our cities are disintegrating from within.

Yes, the rich are getting richer while the working man - who once represented the proud backbone of this great country - is unceremoniously stiffed as greedy fat cats smack their lips and chuckle all the way to the bank.

But of what life's simple pleasures? Can't one experience just a moment of peace by zoning out in front of a favorite online multiplayer game?

Well, of course you can - if you are willing to pay extra for the privilege.

That's right: online multiplayer gaming is set to become subscription-based as ruthless corporations (think RoboCop) such as EA and Activision explore new ways of extracting cash from the ranks of the rapidly thinning middle-class.

"The idea you can buy Call of Duty and play online forever for free is crazy...Activision is [definitely] going to charge for it," Wedbush Morgan Michael Pachter said in a GameTrailers video transcribed by VG247.

"[In addition], I think EA will migrate to an online subscription model, so instead of paying $10 for an online pass, [they] will charge $5 or $10 a month which [would] give players the ability to play any of the companies sports games online."

According to Pachter, the lack of initial enthusiasm for such a model will have little significant impact on EA Sports profits.

"You know I think they will be fine if 1-2 million do that [pay for subscription] and they will be fine if other 10-20 million people who play EA Sports games keep buying new games.

"The moral of the story is game and used game purchasers just have to accept online multiplayer is going subscription. Publishers just can't afford to give this stuff away for free, its cannibalizing new game sales and used game sales."